Wild weather keeps SES busy across the ACT

Every one of these bouts of “wild weather” is, as others have already pointed out, a reminder for many Canberra households that the tree protection regime in this town is yet another example of the overreach and double standards of an ACT government which, when it suits, unapologetically slaughters trees on public land but makes it extremely difficult and very expensive for householders to protect themselves and their homes from dangerous trees on leased land.

The recently enacted tree protection legislation is so counterproductive, and so alienating to a much larger number of householders, that it will fail in its stated purpose because trees which would otherwise have been left to grow unless/until they became a problem will now be lopped and felled before they grow large enough to be protected – with all the onerous costs and restrictions which that entails.

Had the Labor/Green government stuck to the original intention of curtailing the removal of large trees only until a register of truly significant trees was developed, so that those trees could be protected, and normal tree management on leased land then resumed, many problems (including smashed homes during storms) would have been avoided. A couple of decades on from that, a Liberal opposition looking to shift votes would be wise to dust off that policy.

About those wind turbines that can’t operate at wind speeds above 90kph

Wind up to 60 km/h is not too bad. What’s bad is Greens/Labor policy of keeping old trees even if they clearly pose danger, out of style and are a nuisance. If Greens cared for the climate change then they should have welcomed planting 2 trees instead of one as in NSW and not opposing it. I recall Canberra Liberals pledge back in 2020 of planting 1 million trees in ACT and to which Greens and Labor objected on a cost basis. There is still Canberra times article about it back on 6 June 2020 called “ACT government says the Canberra Liberals’ pledge to plant a million trees is uncosted and unrealistic”. Greens objecting to planting trees on cost basis is a circus !